Armed and dangerous - modelling rebellious peasants

When you think of a medieval peasant uprising I think most people get the image of poor dirty farmers armed with pitchforks and shovels. In late medieval Sweden (and probably in most of Europe at the time) this is quite far from the truth.

The peasantry in Sweden during the late middle ages were not passive bystanders to the events unfolding around them. Far from it. They were very much kingmakers and their support was crucial for any pretender to the throne. Neither were they an ill equipped rabbled called upon by lords to do their fighting. By the end of the 15th century the peasantry were veterans of decades of war. They were both well equipped and well led and lords had to listen to their demands to gain their support.

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Swedish peasant soldiers repel raiders in the border regions to Denmark. Värend in Småland, 1511 AD.

Mustering and organizing the peasantry

Peasants constituted more than 90 percent of the Swedish population at the beginning of the 16th century. A large part of these peasants owned their own land and their political importance had increased during the last 100 years. This group was also very diverse and ranged from propertyless crofters to skilled laborers like miners to wealthy estate owners who in many regards equaled the lower nobility. Most of these men were free men who were able to vote and elect their leaders at the ting (approx. council). Mustering was a process of negotiation between local representatives of the state and representatives of the peasants. The state would have to pay to get the support of the peasantry and the currency was tax cuts. Tax exemptions equaled peasant support. As an example the peasants of Småland in southern Sweden, on the border of then Denmark, were tax exempt for ten years in return for keeping a 1000 men at the siege of Kalmar.

The military leaders of the peasant musters were most of the time the same people who were tasked with organizing the muster. These consisted of judicial officials like lagmän (lit. lawmen), fiscal officials like fogdar (approx. sheriff or bailiff) state appointed hövitsmän (approx. captains or commanders) or the peasants own representatives; häradshövdingar (approx. district chiefs). Somewhat simplified units would be based on the civilian organization of härad (approx. precinct or hundred) and socken (approx. parish) where a number of peasants would group together and equip one soldier. How many soldiers a härad could equip depended on how inclined the peasants were to participate in hostilities, how big the tax exemption was and obviously how populated the härad was. For example Våla härad in Uppland raised 300 men in october 1508 and Värends five härader in Småland raised a 1000 men in August 1505. In 1517 80 men were raised from Lofta socken on the Swedish east coast to relieve nearby Stäkeholm castle.

Equipment and dress

Unfortunately we are not left with a wealth of sources here and the ones we have are somewhat conflicting. For some reason a very common occurrence in the early 16th century, peasant soldiers, has left very few pictorial sources. I have based my conversions on three different pictorial sources, all of which are problematic in some sense.

One of the drawings by Paul Dolnstein from 1502. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The first source is the drawings by the German landsknecht Paul Dolnstein of the siege of Älvsborg in 1502. The one pictured above shows a peasant soldier wearing a kettle helmet, a breastplate and wide long trousers. He is armed with both a long sword and what looks like a spear. Dolnstein has also drawn a battle which shows a number of different helmet styles and close combat weapons and most importantly a wealth of crossbows. Interestingly a lot of the men also seem to wear hoods. The armament in Dolnsteins images corresponds with laws about what equipment a free man is expected to wear when on campaign. Unfortunately these laws were not in use by the early 16th century. Another problem is that I haven’t found another source that shows something even remotely close to this. The force in Dolnsteins images has a very unique ”look” and you would think that would find its way into other sources, but no. On the other hand Dolnstein is our best primary source, his images are detailed and I see no reason for him to lie about how the enemy was dressed and equipped.

“On the command of the mobilized people” from Olaus Magnus’ book History of the Nordic Peoples from 1555. Note the crossbows and the amount of arrows each man is carrying. The man in the middle is armed with a lucerne hammer, or fotstridshammare (lit: foot warhammer) in Swedish. He is also armed with a bow. Source: Avrosys/Lars Henriksson

The second source is from a book written by Olaus Magnus, a catholic clergyman and the last archbishop of Uppsala. He knew Gustav Vasa, witnessed the Stockholm bloodbath and lived through these tumultuous times. In 1527 he fled Sweden because of the reformation being implemented. Eventually he ended up in Rome where he wrote ”A Description of the Northern Peoples”. The book is illustrated with 352 woodcuts ranging from mundane things like blacksmiths to the more fantastical subjects like wizards among the Finns. Several images deal with warfare and peasant musterings like the one above which illustrates commanding mustered men. The dress is obviously completely different from what Dolnstein show us with men wearing longer coats or tunics and what looks like bycocket hats. They are all armed with crossbows though, unlike the soldiers in Dolnsteins drawings. By the late 15th century the crossbow was not only the dominating weapon among the peasantry it was the only armament the state was interested in. All of the musters by this time demanded skyttar (lit: shooters) armed  with crossbows, other types of weapons were not of interest. Other things are problematic with Olaus Magnus' book though, one of them being that it was written in Italy in the 1540’s and even though it is believed that Magnus made most of the illustrations himself we cannot be sure. The other problem is that Magnus’ book is filled with fantastical tales and pure nonsense; it doesn't lend credibility to the other parts. On the other hand Olaus Magnus most likely had witnessed the peasant soldiers himself while in Sweden and there are details in the drawings, like the extensive use of the crossbow, that makes them more credible.

A scene from Exodus from Odensala church painted by Albertus Pictor. Source: Christer Malmberg

The last source is church paintings of which there is a wealth. Even though these almost exclusively depict scenes from the Bible the clothing is usually contemporary. Thus you will see roman soldiers dressed as knights and David dressed as a 16th century peasant while he slays Goliath. One of the most prominent painters of churches in Sweden was a German named Albertus Pictor and whose work is preserved in 37 churches mainly around Mälardalen. What these paintings show us is not necessarily what people would have worn when going to war though. Common headwear are variants of the bycocket hat and other felt hats and caps and even hoods. Most people, men and women, seem to be wearing different length tunics or kirtles (tunika and kjortel in Swedish). Basically everyone seems to be wearing tight hoses too, I haven’t found any image of the long and wide pants shown in Dolnsteins drawings. The image above is just an example, it depicts when God let it rain bread in the desert in Exodus and shows a number of different clothing pieces. This particular painting is from Odensala church and was painted around 1495. The problem with the church paintings is that we cannot be entirely sure that they depict Swedish or Nordic clothing and equipment. A lot of the painters were not native or studied their craft abroad. It was also common for these painters to have books with drawings that they then reproduced on the walls of the church and these could have come from all over the continent. The peasants on the church walls might in other words be German, French or Italian.  

Creating the Swedish peasantry in miniature

With the sources above as inspiration I started converting miniatures. I started with three miniatures and the aim was to replicate one each of the sources above. The one on the left, based on the woodcuts in Olaus Magnus book, uses a Tudor dolly from Steelfist miniatures, arms with crossbow from Perry Miniatures Agincourt French infantry box and a head from Perry Miniatures European Mercenaries box. The large collar was sculpted on. Pretty simple conversion with most parts just glued on. Not too happy with the collar though. 

The kneeling one in the middle is based on Dolnsteins drawings and to be completely transparent I stole the conversion idea from Albin Östbergs excellent diorama which you can see more of on his blog. The legs are from the skirmishing frame from a Perry Miniatures American Civil War Union infantry box, the torso is from an armoured body from the Perry Miniatures European Mercenaries box as is the head and the arms is, just as the last one, from the Agincourt French infantry box. These parts were shaved to fit and then glued together, not much more to it.

The third and last miniature only uses parts from the Perry Miniatures European Mercenaries box set and the only conversion work I have done is to lengthen the tunic to reach mid thigh. Otherwise he is pretty much straight out of the box.

As for helmets, which all of these have, I aimed to mostly use the different kettle hats from the different Perry kits. There are some more variants pictured in Dolnsteins battle drawing such as skull caps and sallets. I’ve also used some of the Perry’s metal Tudor heads as these variants look like the headwear in the Albertus Pictor paintings. I really should get heads with a bycocket, or learn to sculpt one, as these are very common in both the church paintings and in Olaus Magnus' book. Also in Dolnstein’s drawing there are a lot of hoods which I should learn how to do.

As for painting I used the church paintings and images in Göte Göransson’s book “Gustav Vasa och hans folk” as reference and ended up with a simple and muted palette of browns, off-whites, red and greens. I could probably use some stronger colours here and there but I also wanted to have a stark contrast between these and their enemies, which will be bright and colourful landsknechts.

And here is the finished unit. I had a hard time making up my mind about the basing as I wasn’t sure if I should keep the three different “styles” in different units. What if Dolnsteins drawings portray men from Dalarna and Olaus Magnus portray men from Småland? In the end we will probably never know so I decided to mix the styles. I also decided, inspired by David Imries large and scenic bases, to use these bigger bases which almost makes a little diorama. It also means I can vary the number of miniatures on a base, between four to six, adding to the irregular feeling of these units. Also I haven’t decided on a suitable ruleset to use these with and I thought bases like this would give me some headroom.

I’m very happy with how these turned out and I feel they are a fairly good representation of Swedish peasant soldiers in the early 16th century. I don’t think they ended up looking like italian crossbowmen or War of the Roses infantry but they have their own look. Hopefully as I add to this force I will be able to keep that look and feel.

A note on sources

An invaluable resource for this article is Martin Neuding Skoogs book ”I rikets tjänst” which deals with the military organization in Sweden from 1450 to 1550. Neuding Skoog delves into great detail on all aspects of the different military establishments of the time.
Another great source is the illustrator Göte Göranssons book ”Gustav Vasa och hans folk”. It is absolutely filled with paintings and drawings of the period and especially on clothing, even though its focus seems to be more on the nobility in that regard. Both of these are only available in Swedish but at least Göransson’s book is so filled with images and drawings that that is not such a big problem.
Dolnstein’s drawings should be easy to find with a Google search and I’m sure there are texts in English about his work.
All 352 woodcuts from Olaus Magnus' book can be found here. They even have english commentaries.
As for Albertus Pictors work Christer Malmberg has done an amazing work photographing the churches with the preserved paintings in. You can find that here.